Latest On Rockies’ Catching Situation

Rockies catcher Tony Wolters left last night’s action after being struck on the head by the follow-through of a swing, as Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports. He was diagnosed with a concussion and placed on the 7-day concussion list after the contest.

That’s an unfortunate break for the 24-year-old, who was off to a productive start to the season. Through 54 plate appearances, he has slashed .360/.407/.460. Meanwhile, platoon partner Dustin Garneau has struggled to a .196/.245/.370 batting line in his fifty trips to the plate.

Over the winter, the plan was somewhat different. Colorado had hoped that Tom Murphy would handle a big share of the time behind the dish. But he broke his forearm this spring.

As Groke further reports on Twitter, Murphy has not healed quite as quickly as hoped. While he has moved from a splint to a soft cast, he’s obviously not yet cleared to participate in baseball activities. Once his arm is back to health, presumably, he’ll require a fairly lengthy process of preparing for the season.

Fortunately, the Rockies were able to pick up veteran Ryan Hanigan on a minor-league commitment late in camp. He has been playing at Triple-A since, where he’s hitting a typically OBP-heavy, power-shy .282/.360/.359.

It seems likely that Hanigan will get the call back to the majors. As Groke notes, the team already has an open 40-man spot to work with. If and when he returns to the majors, it’ll represent Hanigan’s eleventh-straight season of MLB action.

Trade leon first, he struggled at the end of last season and is hitting below .200 this season, if swihart makes a slight improvement with his defence he will be a good catcher, otherwise move him to 1b/lf/dh